Pinfeathers - Newly emerging feathers after a molt. It is very difficult to pluck waterfowl with many pinfeathers.

Pinion - The surgical removal of the point of the wing at the outer joint. Done to permanently prevent the bird from being able to fly.

Pip - Egg in which the chick has broken the shell in an attempt to hatch; Also, the act of breaking the shell.

Poult - Young turkey.

Preening - Lubricating feathers from the preening gland situated at the base of the rump. Waterfowl need to be wet in order to preen, so they need access to splashing water at least.

Relative Humidity - Measure of the water vapor or moisture in the air; can be determined from the wet-bulb temperature, dry-bulb temperature, and atmospheric pressure using a psychometric chart.

Set - To place eggs in an incubator or under a female for incubation.

Setter - An incubator.

Sex Link - A genetic trait that creates a difference (usually color) between males and females.

Sexing - Determining the gender of a bird. The only sure way to tell the sex of a duckling before they are 6 to 8 weeks old is to examine the cloaca (vent sex).

Sport - A colloquial term for mutation.

Straight Run - Young poultry that have not been sexed, usually meaning about 50% males and 50% females.

True Fertility - Percentage of hatching eggs that are fertile. This can be determined only by candling the eggs after at least six days of incubation or by breaking open fresh eggs to examine the germinal disc on the yolk to see if it is fertile or not.

Wet-Bulb Temperature - Temperature measured by a standard thermometer equipped with a wet sock over the bulb. A lower wet bulb temperature indicates the incubator is dry, as there is so much evaporation of water off the sock that the thermometer is cooled. If the wet bulb temperature is close to the dry bulb temperature, it indicates that the incubator is very humid as there is very little evaporative cooling from the sock. Instead of buying a wet bulb sock, you can use a hollow shoe lace.